Honor to revamp internal structure

New recruits will receive training in all honor disciplines, reducing specialization

A proposed change to the Honor Committee’s bylaws could overhaul the way new members are recruited and trained. Previously, honor recruits have been divided into three separate pools: counselors, advisors and educators. The proposed change would group all recruits into a single pool.

Honor Chair Evan Behrle, a fourth-year College student, said the proposal, which will come to a vote Sunday, would increase cohesiveness in the honor community by putting all new recruits through a single training process.

“Our training is going to have to be a lot more hands-on and engaging,” Behrle said. “We want new members to be fluent in every aspect of the honor system.”

The current system had been criticized by some members in the past because it forced them to choose a role on honor before they knew enough about the positions, said senior advisor Nick Hine, a third-year College student.

Behrle said comprehensive training would allow honor members to make a more informed choice.

“We found that while the specialization is important, the best officers would be good at everything because there is a lot of overlap,” he said.

Behrle said an informal poll among honor members last week showed moderate support for the proposal. “There were people who enthusiastically support it, some people who were neutral, but I haven’t talked to anyone who strongly doesn’t support it,” he said.

New members would still be able to concentrate their efforts in one area during their tenure on honor, Behrle added.

Current honor members would be allowed to stay in their current specialized role or retrain to become universal member, he said.